Consumer Responses to Sports Leagues' Employer Branding: Psychological Contract Formation and Breach

Employer branding has recently begun to attract attention in sport management to explain unique branding efforts by sports leagues. Although previous research has discussed its effectiveness in athlete recruitment and retention, little is known about how employer branding affects consumers. In this study we conceptualized a sports leagues employer branding as a psychological contract between the league and athletes and examined how consumers react to the formation and breach of such a contract. Our experimental studies suggested that sports leagues can improve their credibility and consumers' attitudes toward them by promising favorable working conditions to their players. However, consumers can also perceive certain league behaviors as breaches of psychological contracts that hurt the league's credibility and worsen consumers' attitudes toward the league. These results contribute to the sport marketing literature by illustrating effective branding techniques whereby sports leagues can promote their positive employer brand image and attract consumers.